Why didnt they send the explorers to the north and south caps of Mars it would be more interesting to see what is there dont you think?

Theres my proof that water exists on Mars.
And even if there was no water on Mars it doesnt mean that life could not exist without water/oxygen etc that is just our way of life on earth on any
other planet life could just exist by eating rock! Theres nothing to say that unknown species couldnt survive on rock and theres no proof it could so
we will have to wait and see.
But there must be something!

...someone needs to send something there. There appears to be plants of some sort growing at the base of the ice cap, and until NASA pulls their head
out of "you know where" and stop looking at miserable rocks they may just find life.

Good post, and yes, I think the ice cap is enough proof that water is there. Frozen or not, its still water!

Well these discoveries were not made until very late in the preparations for the current MER mission. (Only a few months before launch). Plus it would
be irresponsible to randomly send probes around hunting for life. Before a greater understanding of the Geological history of the Red Planet is
achieved. A vast amount of specific knowledge about Mars has been gained from the MER missions. Allowing more specific planning for future
missions."looking at miserable rocks" is a rather ignorant way of putting it.

Kano...Im not saying that looking at rocks is wrong, but they need to go where they find what may be evidence of life. They seem to have enough money
to send probes and rovers to the red planet, so why not fund something to go check out the polar region or Cydonia for that matter.

Im not suggesting that there IS life on Mars, but there is strong evidence coming out that there MAY be life, or at least at one time. They need to
put taxpayer money and grant money to use and at least see if there is life. If there is none, then so be it.

Going to Cydonia would be a waste in itself, all thats there is a big mound of dirt and a bunch of rocks too, now with high-quality telescopes, they
can see through all the optical illusion shadows and see that its just a flat area with a bunch of rocks. If the probes should be probing for life
anywhere, its in the dry ravines.

It's my understanding that the ice caps are composed of frozen carbon dioxide. I have no doubt that water flowed on mars in the past. Water present
there now will likely be locked up in the subsoil or deep under the surface. remember that the atmospheric pressure on mars is now so low that most
"normal" liquids will evaporate almost immediately.

Cydonia is of importance. Im not saying this is true or not, but if those structures are indeed artificial (made by intelligent beings) then they
have been covered by soil for ages. I dont think the face is a "face" but it may very well be some sort of artificial structure like ancient burial
mounds here on Earth. I think the whole deal with seeing a "face" in the face is like seeing sheep in cloud formations, but that is not to say
there is not something important buried underneath those pyramid-like structures, etc. For all we know they may very well be pyramids, but just
covered over by perhaps millions of years worth of soil. In fact, if we find any structures on the surface I bet the will have to be found by
something like Ground penetrating radar!

Fegeddebout the face! What about the 5 sided pyramid. Artificial or not, what forces were involved in the creation of that particuliar feature? Is it
a giant crystal of some sort? A strange mountain? A Starbucks?

Originally posted by Jazzerman
Kano...Im not saying that looking at rocks is wrong, but they need to go where they find what may be evidence of life. They seem to have enough money
to send probes and rovers to the red planet, so why not fund something to go check out the polar region or Cydonia for that matter.

I agree, I don't know why that section of Mars wasn't a priority to begin with. Quite frankly, I think the recent missions have been a waste of
money because of this. All they have done is confirm what was already visible from sattelite imagery.

All the elements that exist on Earth, exists everywhere in the cosmos in likewise distribution. Hydrogen is the most abundant of all the elements, and
from this lightest and simplest of all the atoms, all other matter came.
There is water in abundance or trace amounts everywhere in the Solar System, Milky Way, our local galaxy cluster,etc...

didn't we try to send a satellite to the poles? the Mars Polar Orbiter or something like that? Why is it every time we send a probe to a really good
spot for trying to figure Mars out, we lose it? What's the ratio? about one out of four or so probes make it, and the others are 'lost' (or
intentionally destroyed/lost/misdirected)

The atmospheric pressure on Mars is reportably too low
for liquid water to exist for an extended length of
time. So Mars has often been portrayed as a dry and
dusty planet. The story is that it may have had a
denser atmosphere once and maybe even liquid water on
the surface. But today the scientific community says it
is just a dry, lifeless planet.

Unfortunately for the true believers of that story there are
several "thousand" images returned from the various space
probes sent to Mars, both to orbit it and land on the surface,
that seem to contradict the story.

I dont know how valid that picture is or if it came from any NASA site but it looks like water to me.

I looked at marsunearthed.com and theres some nice pics and it seems we are being told that water cannot exist on mars?
If these images are valid then why are we being told there is no water and cannot be any chance.
Personally it doesnt interest me in the least if there used to be water on mars whats that going to achieve? So maybe life could have existed how many
million/billion years ago if water did exist. What should matter is... is there water there now and is there even singled cell organisms or any other
life in that water now? Now that would be an interesting find and if there was would Nasa even let us know about it stright away?

We are not told nor have we ever been told that water cannot exist on mars. There is obvious evidence for major erosional forces all over it's
surface. The question is: Is it water (H2O) that caused this. With the atmospheric pressures that are believed to exist there, plus the wild variance
in temperatures, others things like CO2 might be resposible. Play with some dry ice sometime. You can pour the vapor out of a cup like water. Given
the right pressure/temperature, it will liquify and flow/ look like H2O. I think it likely that we will find water as we know it on mars. I don't
believe there is a huge conspiracy at JPL or NASA about water or life on mars. We want to find it. We want it to be easier to utilize the planets of
our solar sytem for scientic and yes, financial gain.

I only used CO2 as an example. Maybe it was a bad one. As for the doubt of any life being possible on mars: Polycheate worms were found living in
frozen methane at the bottom of our oceans. Pretty low or non existant oxygen there. Also, bacteria was found alive in the thoroughly frozen gut of a
Wooly Mammoth. I wouldn't count any life out just yet.

...someone needs to send something there. There appears to be plants of some sort growing at the base of the ice cap, and until NASA pulls their head
out of "you know where" and stop looking at miserable rocks they may just find life.

Good post, and yes, I think the ice cap is enough proof that water is there. Frozen or not, its still water!

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